


Wedding Bells

by nishiki



Series: when the world is burning [5]
Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: M/M, Sick Children, Wedding Preparations, desmond wants cake, lots of fluff, white suit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-03-17 02:11:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3511358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wedding preparations are often a great deal of stress for a young couple and not all relationships survive those.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [friedenskind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/friedenskind/gifts).



> As requested by Friedenskind and many Little anons on tumblr here we have (finally) the Wedding-Scene of the Paper Hearts AU. I hope you enjoy reading!  
> also thanks to Mrasayf on tumblr for giving me permission to use one of her lovely drawings as Inspiration <3

The ceremony of the wedding of Malik Al-Sayf and Altaїr Ibn-La'Ahad had been short but beautiful and it had been quite a miracle that they managed to not fight during it at all. Malik was tired of ranting. For nearly eight months now he kept ranting and rambling. They fought about the name they were going to use from now on (a war he won because he was brave and stupid enough to get shot two times by a nutcase teenage-boy), they fought about the wedding day, they fought about the location, they fought about the guest-list, they fought about the dinner options (they also fought about if they should have dinner or just limit the party to finger-food and cake), they fought about the music, they fought about the fucking cake, they fought about the rings and in the end it was about time that they started fighting about their outfits. And Malik was sure as hell this wouldn’t be the last time they would fight about stupid stuff.

They were prone to fighting and Malik wouldn’t have it any other way. He didn’t want a boring relationship were all was just lovely and nice and quiet. He wanted action and thrill although he never imagined he would say something like that over a year ago. The man he had been before he met Altaїr felt like a stranger to the Malik he was now. He had been boring and his life dull and sad because he had been so much consumed in his family's death and Kadar's condition that he hardly saw any light at the end of the tunnel. He had been consumed in the things he lost and the things he would never have again in his life. So much in fact that he had been unable to open up for really anyone, so much that he searched for a lover just to find someone like Alex who wasn’t good for him at all.

Malik still missed his parents and wished they could be here today by his side to approve of his decision to marry the dork that swept him off his feet over a year ago in the darkest of times. Those were the things Malik said to Altaїr when he vowed in front of all those stupid people to love and cherish him for the rest of his life. Malik was no romantic guy and so was Altaїr. It felt awkward standing in front of the guests and this priest and to vow each other eternal love and all that bullshit but on the same instant it felt like the right thing to do. They didn’t need a document with their names on it to say they belonged together and they didn’t need rings to bind them at each other, but making that statement in front of all those people and committing to each other especially in front of their brothers felt necessary and right. They were a family and no lone and sad people anymore and everyone should see this.

"Ezio cried like a baby." Desmond grinned as soon as the ceremony was over and the big party started in the garden of their house. Desmond had no interest in this party, but in the cake. Malik wondered if they would even make it and cut the cake together (he and Altaїr) before Desmond would dig his greedy teeth in it - although the Baby spend the whole week crying and whining about a lost tooth.

"I did not cry." Ezio moaned and pinched little Desmond's nose. "I had something in my eye."

"You totally cried." Kadar added helpfully before fleeing from Ezio's reaching distance as fast as he could. It was delightful seeing his brother running around again after he had such a hard time learning how to walk again. He wasn’t finished with his rehab yet, but he really made great progress. Life finally looked bright again, although Ezio still wore a loop for his shoulder after he had just been operated again (the idiot managed to dislocate his shoulder after the _incident_ five times already and hurt his sinew with that even further) and although Malik still needed to attend rehab for his own shoulder.

He couldn’t really brag about it for Altaїr treated him well during the time of his little handicap. Well of course his (now) husband often lost it and yelled at him and Ezio when they did something stupid with their remaining hands, but most of the time he cared good for them. There had been a few incidents when Altaїr would just sit around and watch them with a slightly evil grin in his stupid face while Ezio and Malik tried to do something (like making coffee or preparing a bowl of cereals) with just one hand each until they would beg him to help. Malik never begged. He rather ran around with coffee-stains all over his dress-shirts than beg him for help.

Next month the court hearing of Cesare and Micheletto would finally begin and chances were good that they would be put in juvenile at least. Malik still didn’t really know if they should be punishes more severe and more like adults for what they've done, because he didn’t like seeing young peoples' lives ruined, but on the other hand they deserved being punished for their actions like anyone else, no matter _who_ Cesare's father was or not – that was what Altaїr said and he was probably right. After all they dealt with drugs on a High-School and they beat up Ezio before Cesare lost it and shot them. The fact alone that he possessed a weapon was illegal.

Robert de Sable on the other hand already was behind bars and he had seen Altaїr never more gleeful than in the moment when the judge delivered the sentence for his nemesis. It surprised Malik a little that Altaїr hadn't danced on the table of the prosecution during the trial and showed his bare ass to Robert when he got his sentence. Sometimes Altaїr was a child - just like in this moment, when Altaїr smeared a little of the frosting of their cake to Malik's nose.

He should've known. It shouldn't surprise him.

"So that's the true face of marriage, right?" Leonardo chuckled before there was a flash of light and the unmistakable click of the lens of a camera.

"Yes and now it's too late." Malik moaned and wiped the frosting off his nose tip (to eat it of course because Altaїr and Desmond weren't the only sweet-teeth of the family – in fact they all were and that was the reason why their shopping cards always contained a great amount of chocolate and cookies).

"Till death do us part." Altaїr sang-sung at him and grinned widely when Leonardo made another photo – a photo on which Malik probably glared murderously at his husband – well wouldn’t be neither the last picture he would look at him this way, nor the last time.

"Leonardo could you fetch me a shovel? There is a body I need to burry."

"You really shouldn’t do this in front of witnesses, friend." Leonardo laughed. "You really should wait until all the guests are gone and the kids sleep in their rooms. Make it look like an accident, everyone will believe you."

Altaїr's face was priceless, when he crossed his arms in front of his body and raised a brow at Leonardo. "Are you taking sides now? When we get divorced do we need to fight over who is going to keep you?"

Leonardo just patted his shoulder before he retreated laughing to catch the kids and some of the guests on camera. He was as eager as a photographer as he was as an artist and he would make sure they would have many, many photos of that memorable day.

"You won't really kill me, right? I mean … there is nothing you could inherit other then three annoying little brothers." Altaїr grinned when he flung his long arms around his neck and brought their faces close together without kissing him, just pushing his nose against Malik's. Cute little bastard. He really had a hard time being mad at him (like always).

"Not now, too many witnesses just as Leonardo said." Malik replied dryly and placed his hands on the small of his back. Again there was that annoying flash of the camera, but Malik tried to ignore it. He really doubted that Leonardo would really get any good photos of them on which they would appear to be head over heels in love. They were. Of course they were in love, so much in fact that there was this nagging and annoying little feeling in his guts every time he looked at this adorable dork all dressed up in his tuxedo like a real responsible adult. Just for a second he caught his lips, but Altaїr leant his head back just enough to unlink their lips again.

"You would never harm me, you love me too much." Altaїr grinned smugly.

"You sure?" Malik chuckled. "Like Leonardo said, everyone would believe me if I would say you had a horrible little accident, clumsy as you are. All I needed to say was that you fall down the stairs again and unfortunately broke your neck."

"Be nice, otherwise you sleep on the no _sex-side_ tonight. Wouldn’t that be a shame in our wedding night?"

"Like you would manage to survive that. _You_ are the one grinning like an idiot the whole day like you want to shout that you're getting laid tonight – as if all the people wouldn’t already know." He grinned at him and dragged him closer to his body but still Altaїr denied him the kiss he was yearning for, instead the younger one managed to pull away from him – still grinning widely like the idiot he was.

"I think we should make the photos now, as long as we still look fancy like this." - Because they soon wouldn’t and they knew it both. By the time they would finally cut the cake and would start to eat they sure would manage to stain their clothes, other than this it was only a small little garden party and the sky already darkened with the upcoming storm that was announced for today and Malik rather would be alone with his newly wed husband and not be looked at like some kind of zoo animal.

But when he looked at his husband in his black tuxedo and the little white flower in his breast pocket, all dressed up in polished black (uncomfortable) shoes and his black tie and west, he still remembered the day they got their _outfits_ for the wedding very vividly, perhaps because it was one of the more stressful and exhausting days in his life.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

The night had been a short one. In fact Malik only slept two and a half hours. He would like to state that this was the cause of glorious, dirty and exhausting sex with his fiancé, but that really wasn’t the case. He hadn't slept because there were three children in their bed. The evening had started with Desmond feeling sick, because the poor boy either ate something wrong (which wouldn’t be a surprise because the boy really ate anything) or because he got an infection from one of his classmates (Altaїr blamed Shaun because he always blamed Shaun). After he spent over an hour throwing up in the bathroom right before dinner they decided to put the little guy in their big bed so they could have an eye on him (and to separate him from Kadar). He had a slight fever by the time they laid him down and tucked him in. Desmond was already ten years old but when he was sick he was like a small child and so there was no way for Altaїr leaving him in this condition – not even to have dinner with the rest of the family downstairs.

After that the evening had been a quiet one although Kadar went suspiciously early to bed and Connor followed soon after. At 9 PM he was startled from his spot on the sofa again by the noise from the upstairs bathroom just to find Kadar hanging over the toilet like Desmond had before. Of course he had sat beside his brother and soothingly rubbed his back until his stomach was empty and Kadar exhausted. He hadn't wasted any second to decide he would take Kadar to their bed as well. Altaїr already had lied next to his baby brother who had been curled up at his side, his head on Altaїr's chest listening to him read. He still had looked really pale and grey just as Kadar when Malik had shooed him with a short explanation into the bed. He had only excused himself so he could turn off the lights downstairs and change until he too had climbed into bed. It had been way too early for two adults to go to sleep, but the kids needed their sleep and they were sick so they had turned off the light soon after and went to sleep with the two sick boys between them.

Two hours later there had been the next little boy carefully opening their door before he shuffled to his brother's side and crawled next to him with a small whimper. There had been something about this little whimpering noise of Connor that activated some deeply hidden instincts in Malik and Altaїr - the need to protect this poor little thing.

"What's wrong, Connor?" He had heard his fiancé mumbling sleepily and had seen in the half light of the moon and the streetlamp outside their window how he had pulled the little guy closer to his chest after Connor had lied down beside him under the thick blanket.

"I'm sick…" Of course he was because two sick children hadn't been enough already.

"Do you need to puke?" Malik had asked then quietly to not wake his brother and Desmond, a small nod was the answer even though they could hardly see it.

"Yes … I think so." And with that the whole Dilemma had started. At first it had been peaceful with the three boys in their bed after Connor emptied his stomach with Altaїr by his side, but then Altaїr and he had been woken from their slumber at least once an hour because one of the boys crawled hastily out of the bed to run for the toilet and as soon as they fell asleep the next kid would be up again.

It had been already early in the morning when there had been peace at last. Well … there hadn’t been really peace. When Malik had been awoken the next time it was because a one armed teenager had shouldered his way into their bed and had fallen down heavily next to Malik. They hardly fitted in the bed all together but it worked with Desmond lying half on top of Altaїr and Connor curled into his brother's side near the edge. It was funny how cuddly and clingy even Kadar became when he was sick.

So after a short night like this it wasn’t much of a surprise that Malik's nerves were on edge hours later in the fitting room of the haberdasher. "Oh for fuck's sake you can't be serious!" He sighed and couldn’t help but bury his face in his right hand because his left arm still was a little bit limited in movement. There he stood - his husband-to-be - dressed in a white suit with a veil made of white lace and a tiara on his head, grinning like a proud idiot.

 _Now Malik._ _Now would be the time to run and never look back. You haven't said_ I do _yet! You can still run!_

"Here comes the bride~" Altaїr's singing was more than cringe-worthy, but it helped. Malik had no clue why but he couldn’t help but smirk before he grabbed the wiggling young man in front of him and lifted his veil. "You are ridiculous. Where did you even got that stuff?" Then he ripped the veil and tiara off and the stressful night and exhaustions was forgotten for this little moment of playfulness.

"Still you love me." Altaїr pouted.

"Yes and I start to doubt my sanity and reason." Malik chuckled and pinched his nose. "But no. The white suit is an absolute no."

"But shouldn’t one of us at least wear a white suit? I mean it's a wedding, right?" Altaїr said and turned in front of the mirror. He looked good in the white suit, that was not the question, but it was weird.

"I don’t think we can fool anyone into believing you are innocent just because you wear white. Ezio caught us way too often to know it better. It looks weird, take it off." Malik grinned. He remembered more than one occasion vividly to cite as an example to proof that this guy was a lot of things but innocent or untouched.

"But I really think one of us should wear white. One of us or both." Altaїr said again, stubbornly like ha always was when he had an idea – but most of the time his ideas were way better than this one.

"No. I won't wear a white suit and you won't either." Malik sighed while he unbuttoned Altaїr's suit jacket, but the boy escaped him with a slight grimace.

"Well but what if I want to?" He then said with a snarl and Malik knew that he should really drop the topic now, but he couldn’t help it.

"What do you mean _if you want to_? You _don’t_ want to."

"What if I do?"

"Oh come on Altaїr!"

"No I mean it! Every god damn time _you_ decide what we are going to do, right? You decided about the cake and the fucking location and the music and all that stuff! I am even going to adopt your name!" Altaїr growled when he took a few steps back. His face was serious and angry and Malik suddenly had no clue at all if Altaїr was fooling around or really serious. _If_ he was in fact serious Malik needed to overthink his actions – and that he should do quick at best. He was no one to force others into things they didn’t want. Well okay he somewhat forced his fiancé in taking his name in doing something heroic for same fiancés baby brother but that didn’t count really for Altaїr decided it himself (and Malik himself was quite angry that Altaїr would use this again in a fight).

Malik too took a step back and looked at the man opposite of him. Suddenly his left arm really ached a little. The wound was fully healed by now but he still was not back to his former self. A little confused he ruffled through his black hair, an unusual gesture for a man like him. It was e gesture of uncertainty and that was how he felt. "Well … I guess … Do you want to talk about … _this_?" He then cautiously asked and gestured between them, because he didn’t mean the suit or the cake or the location but _them_.

"No, I am done talking." Altaїr replied dryly and crossed his arms in front of his chest with a small snarl. Oh he was fucked. Altaїr was rarely angry with him and when he was he would yell - they were both pretty loud when angry, but this time Malik's stomach dropped a little for he was not sure what to make of this. He would not break up with him - that was for sure. Altaїr would not stand here in this stupid fitting room in this stupid shop if he was on the verge of breaking up with him. Altaїr was no one for half-hearted things – but oh god how much he would like if the guy would yell at him already! He couldn’t stand this quiet anger!

"If you want to change anything about the wedding I suppose we should change it. I don’t want you to be unhappy." He could at least try this, because if Altaїr wanted to scream at him he would, no matter what Malik would try to calm him down. Altaїr had a bad temper and he knew that and he liked that. He never had better angry-sex with a person before. Altaїr only gritted his teeth. "And … I suppose … if you really want to wear a white suit … or if you want us both to wear white suits, than we should do it. It's not a big deal." They most likely would look stupid anyway because most couples did on their wedding day all grinning like fools.

"No. It looks ridiculous." Altaїr then said and finally grinned at him. "But maybe I really should change something about the groom. Perhaps I should rather marry Rauf." Malik never wanted to punch him so much before, but he just moaned and threw his hands in the air in defeat.

"Oh I hate you so very much!" He breathed, but Altaїr only laughed and finally tore of this stupid white suit.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

There was a bunch of photos spread out on the small kitchen table that desperately needed to be sorted and examined. The photos showed a variety of scenes, all photographed at a wedding how it looked. There were people in tuxedos and suits and elegant cocktail-dresses and a big-ass layered cake with white frosting and beautiful flowers all over the place and all that stuff that people so desperately needed at a wedding.

It was already late when Ezio stepped into the kitchen and the house was silent. He couldn’t find sleep. There simply was way too much going on in his head to even think of sleep. Summer was coming to an end, which meant he would leave home for college in a few weeks. _Home_ what a weird word. As a child he never understood the meaning of this word, as a teenager he learned that _home_ was no place. _Home_ was not just a house, no building made of bricks and wood. _Home_ was a feeling, a feeling that was born out of love and comfort and trust. He never had a _home_ for nearly the entirety of his life, not even with his mom still around. Now he was seventeen and it was the very first time that he had a place to call home and now nothing felt more hard than leaving this place so soon.

Sure, he said that he wanted to leave so there would be enough room for the kids to have their separate rooms after all those years. Sure he said he wanted to leave so he would be able to enjoy his new found freedom (so he could drink and party and get drunken tattoos and all that stuff) and just do as everyone else did. Everyone else would leave home for college, everyone else would move to the campus to learn how to be independent and to mature! But the truth was - now that he knew he would go in a few weeks and had to leave his family and home behind - he felt sad and lonely and he didn’t like that feeling at all. Kadar was already making plans how he would change his room to his liking and every time he noticed it, Ezio felt hurt and miserable and left alone, like he wasn’t part of this family anymore.

Of course he knew it was silly, but that didn’t change anything. He wanted to stay and he wanted to leave. He just learned what family and having a home really meant and now he needed to let go again.

Ezio's path led him to the fridge so he opened it to shove his head inside. There was still a leftover of the wedding cake and some vegetables and fruits and all that other healthy stuff Malik liked to buy. After a moment he found the last can of coke in the fridge and grabbed it before someone could steal it from him. Coke and soda was rare in this house - again thanks to Malik and his obsession for healthy food. With his coke in hand Ezio closed the fridge and leant against the cold metal to have a small glance at the table again. The wedding was a week ago and the two now married idiots needed to write those stupid thank-you-cards for all the guests, but for that they needed to find a photo that was at least somewhat to their liking. It was a _problem_ every normal couple would find itself in, but no normal couple was as stubborn as those two. At least Ezio knew no couple that consisted of two people as stubborn as those two. It was ridiculous.

Since he wouldn’t find sleep anyhow he could as well sit down at the table, drink his coke and look through the pictures. Sometimes those two needed him or one of the kids to do such things so they wouldn’t strangle each other. So Ezio turned on the lights and sat down. He just sat there, looked at the photos and didn’t achieve anything for the next twenty minutes until he finished his coke. For a while he just stared, but then he grabbed one of the photographs and chuckled a little. There was a photograph of a young couple in their new tuxedos all dressed up and handsome as fuck on their wedding day and Malik hated the picture, but Ezio found it hilarious. There was his brother – finally being a little bit taller than his husband – a smug smirk in his face and a sign in his hand that read _'I'm getting laid tonight :)'_ while Malik stood by his side and looked somewhat angry at the sign or like he thought about the possible way of murdering his newly-wed-husband right on the spot. This probably was the moment when Malik Al-Sayf questioned his decision of marrying the dork that was Ezio's big brother. Sometimes Ezio really felt sorry for his brother in law, but he couldn’t help but laugh a little when he leant back in his chair and finally grabbed one of the more decent photos. There really where a lot photos to take from and he himself found the photos _after_ the sign hilarious, but he put them all one a neat little pile on the tabletop and just laid the final one separate – the one picture after Malik hit Altaїr with his stupid sign on the head and the one where they both looked at each other like they wanted to strangle the other one. That was the only picture of them that was decent enough to send to the guests.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Venice was a magnificent city. Of course, Malik had known this before, but now that he was visiting this almost ancient city himself, he was bound to realize, that pictures were not able to really catch and portray the entire beauty of the city that was build on water (even though that was not a hundred percent correct). The waters of the Canal le Grande were glistening in the sun underneath a perfectly blue sky with not a single cloud to be seen in the distance. He was willing to just sit down on one of the many small steps leading into the canal, dipping his feet into the probably dirty, foul and contagious water and just listen to the sounds of this old city. He wanted to listen to the people chatting around him, to the merchants praising their goods and the sounds of footsteps echoing from the high walls of the narrow alleys wounding themselves deeper through the city with every twist and turn. He had grown up in Boston for most of his life and though Boston was an old city itself with hundreds of years resting on its back, it was nothing compared to Venice or any old city in Europe. He could feel the centuries vibrating from the stones of the old houses and palazzos around him, as if the ghosts of long lost and forgotten generations were still dancing through town during carnival in their pompous costumes.

But sadly, he could do none of this now, because there was something else to do first. "We need to turn left." Malik stated after he had found one of the arrows leading the way to _Ponte di Rialto_. Altaїr on the other hand, huffed behind him. They had just arrived at the train station half an hour ago and were now in search for their hotel near Rialto - like every tourist they came across dragging their luggage behind them in a mixture of desperation and excitement written on their faces.

"No. Google Maps says we need to go straight and then right." It was the third time that this happened since they arrived and somehow Malik really started to grow tired of this discussion. Until now he had tried to trust Altaїr and his phone, but slowly he started to question the wisdom of the almighty deity Google.

"If we go that way we will go back where we came from." Malik sighed in a last attempt to get Altaїr to listen to reason and the wisdom of the signs all through Venice and pointed once again to the brass sign with the arrow pointing left. " _Per Rialto_ , left." He sighed still pointing. By now they were both drenched in sweat and despite his previous wish to just sit down and enjoy the wonders of this city, he just wanted to find their hotel and take a hot shower with his newly acquired husband to herald their honeymoon, while the sun was burning mercilessly down on them.

But Altaїr was unruly as always as he was waving his phone in his direction, fully convinced of its powers. "Google never lies, Malik!" Well, he was quite a few years younger than Malik.

"Google lead us three times in a row into a dead end already, honey. Our hotel is near Rialto and Ponte di Rialto is that way." Malik tried yet again, although he was already growing desperate. He did his best to not let it show through his voice though.

"Well, Ezio said-"

"Ezio never was to Venice before! He is home looking after the kids and probably destroying our house right now. Come now, I'm hungry as hell and I need a shower, honey." By now a few passersby already looked at them a little funny, some with a smirk on their face, some irritated.

"Don't honey me, Malik. I know what you are trying to do!" _If he keeps waving his phone at me like this, he is going to drop it into the Canal le Grande_ , he mused. Well, one thing less to worry about. But since Malik was the older, more mature and wiser man in this relationship (clearly), he sighed and held up his hands in defeat.

"Okay, you know what? I follow the arrows and you follow your phone and whoever arrives at the hotel last has to pay for dinner today."

Altaїr grinned victoriously already. "Deal. You are going to lose and I will eat lobster tonight."

It was dark outside and the stars were dancing over the nightly sky like they were celebrating the carnival all over again tonight. Malik stood on the balcony of their hotel room and looked over the canal. It seemed Venice was never sleeping. It was around eleven by now and still, tourists were running through the old streets, never growing tired of it. Noise from the restaurants and bars all around _Ponte di Rialto_ was echoing from the waters of the great canal as Malik sipped on his wineglass and closed his eyes to enjoy the soft breeze coming from the sea.

Suddenly there was a noise behind him as the door to the room was opened, then he heard an exhausted moan of his husband (of course it could as well be a stranger breaking into their room to steal all their stuff, but he guessed that this would be highly unlikely), the unmistakable sound of bags being dropped and then a moment of silence after the door fell shut again.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here.” Malik hummed as he finally turned around to face their room again. It was a beautiful room with a large modern bed. The furniture was for the most part very modern, but the wallpaper and the wooden floor boards were old, just like the plastering around the walls underneath the beautiful painted ceiling. Altaїr  stood near the door still and his bags lay beside him on the floor.

He looked horribly exhausted, his brown hair was sticking to his forehead wet from sweat and his T-shirt clinging to his chest. _Deliciously_ , as Malik would add under different circumstances.

“Shut uuuuuup.” Altaїr whined before he slumped to the floor, but Malik came closer. Of course, he could now brag about how he had arrived here first, trusting the signs all around town. Of course, he could ask him how he finally managed to arrive here with just a few hours delay in comparison to Malik and thus clearly lost the bet and would have to pay for dinner now. But he did not. Because he was just a very good husband and he wanted Altaїr to understand that right away. So instead of saying something he just grinned a bit and immediately schooled his features into a more concerned expression as he bridged the distance and gently ruffled Altaїr's messy hair.

“I was worried, you idiot.” He sighed. “Why didn't you just call me? I would have picked you up.”

“I would have needed to know where I was for that… this city is a nightmare.” Malik suppressed a little laugh, before he helped him up again.

“Go take a hot shower and you will feel better afterwards. I take care of the stuff.” A few minutes later Malik listened to the sound of the water running in the shower. He felt the unmistakable itch to join Altaїr and maybe start their honeymoon the proper way, but instead, he just took care of Altaїr's clothing and hung his shirts proper into the closet, before he took a look at the menu and grabbed the phone.

“So I guess I owe you dinner now.” Altaїr later huffed as he left the bathroom just clothed in one of the soft white fluffy towels with the emblem of their hotel. Malik was not that big of a fan of luxurious suites or hotels, but for their honeymoon he had wanted to invest a bit more money than usually. They only had five days in this beautiful city of which they had lost one day walking through town like idiots already and Malik wanted to make the most out of it before they would go back home again to their brothers and their jobs.

He took in the image Altaїr provided him with, his sun-kissed skin glistening from water as it ran drop by drop over his perfectly chiseled body. They knew each other for quite some time now and from the boy he had been once was not much left anymore. He had grown a lot from the first day they met and that not only in height and general physique but in character too. Malik was proud to see what had become of the teenage boy Altaїr had been and thus he could hardly help it as he threw away his book and grabbed for Altaїr's hips as soon as he was close enough to pull him closer.

“You do, actually.” Malik hummed as he straightened his spine to come close to his husband's face, still, he needed to pull him down by the neck at least a few inches before he could kiss him.

Altaїr even tasted exhausted, but he met Malik at least just as excited still. Maybe he was just relieved that he made his way to the hotel and would now be guaranteed to come back home alive and in one piece to his brothers and would not be eaten by crabs or sharks.

“But not tonight.” Malik stated as they broke apart, just in time for the small knock at their door. He left Altaїr just as confused as he hoped he would be, as he stood from the bed and made his way to the door. He could only imagine how hungry Altaїr must be, by now and since he was a good husband indeed, he would not let him starve to death on their first day of honeymoon.

“I solemnly swear that I will never argue with you again in a foreign city. I solemnly swear that I will never trust Google more than you, oh mighty and wise master Al-Sayf!”

Altaїr lay still only clothed in his towel on their ridiculously large bed as Malik came back to him and though he would always welcome that under normal circumstances, now it only showed how exhausted his sweetheart really was. Malik just laughed a little as he came back to the bed and sat down on the mattress before he placed the silver tray down between them.

“I won't argue with that.” Malik grinned as Altaїr slowly sat up.

“Oh, look so fancy.” Altaїr grinned, but instead of grabbing for the tray immediately, he just sat in awe and stared at the silver tray and the coverage that was shielding their food from their curious eyes as if he had never seen anything like this before in his life. Somehow Altaїr looked quite adorable how he was sitting there only in his towel with his skin still damp and his hair wet, like a child on Christmas morning.

“Of course fancy, we are in Venice after all.” Malik laughed before he lifted the coverage of the first plate. Altaїr wheezed when he saw what was underneath it.

“You really ordered lobster? I hate fish!” He then laughed.

For a moment Malik gave himself the appearance of a deeply annoyed man, shocked by the blatant rejection of his efforts, but then he grinned as he saw Altaїr's puppy eyes being flashed at him.

“I know. The lobster is for me, you get spaghetti.”

Altaїr's stupid face lit up like that of his little brother Desmond whenever he would be presented with something especially delicious to eat, as he lifted the coverage of the other plate revealing a beautifully decorated pasta plate.

As Malik got in the plane in Boston hours and hours ago, he thought that by the time this day ended he would be entangled with Altaїr in a mess of limbs and sheets, sweating and moaning, enjoying being so far away from home and without the worry that one of the kids could suddenly barge in, but, as he now came back to bed after he had brushed his teeth and found his newly acquired husband sleeping sprawled out on their bed, he could not help but smile and think that it was good for what it was. At least for today.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget, you can always write me your requests for new mini ficlets ^^ (either here or here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/niishiki) I LOVE reading and writing them.


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